The stadion (plural stadia, ;
latinized as
stadium
A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
), also
anglicized as stade,
was an
ancient Greek unit of
length
Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with Dimension (physical quantity), dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a Base unit (measurement), base unit for length is chosen, ...
, consisting of 600 Ancient Greek feet (''
podes''). Its exact length is unknown today; historians estimate it at between 150 m and 210 m.
Calculations
According to
Herodotus, one stadium was equal to 600
Greek feet (''podes''). However, the length of the foot varied in different parts of the Greek world, and the length of the stadion has been the subject of argument and hypothesis for hundreds of years.
An
empirical determination of the length of the stadion was made by Lev Vasilevich Firsov, who compared 81 distances given by
Eratosthenes and
Strabo with the straight-line distances measured by modern methods, and
averaged the results. He obtained a result of about . Various equivalent lengths have been proposed, and some have been named. Among them are:
Which measure of the stadion is used can affect the interpretation of ancient texts. For example, the error in the calculation of Earth's circumference by Eratosthenes or
Posidonius is dependent on which stadion is chosen to be appropriate.
Other uses
From the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
on, the word ''stadium'' has been used as a synonym for the
furlong (which is 220 yards, equal to one eighth of a
mile), which is of
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
origin.
See also
*
Ancient Egyptian units of measurement
*
*
Earth's circumference
References
{{Reflist, refs=
[C.F. Lehmann-Haupt (1929) "Stadion"; in August Friedrich von Pauly (ed.), ''Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft''. Stuttgart: Metzler; cited in: Edward Gulbekian (1987)]
The Origin and Value of the Stadion Unit used by Eratosthenes in the Third Century BC
''Archive for History of Exact Sciences'' 37 (4): 359–363. {{doi, 10.1007/BF00417008. {{subscription required.
[Otto Cuntz (1923)]
''Die Geographie des Ptolemaeus: Galliae, Germania, Raetia, Noricum, Pannoniae, Illyricum, Italia''
(in German). Berlin: Weidmann. Cited by: Edward Gulbekian (1987)
The Origin and Value of the Stadion Unit used by Eratosthenes in the Third Century BC
''Archive for History of Exact Sciences'' 37 (4): 359–363. {{doi, 10.1007/BF00417008. {{subscription required.
[D.R. Dicks (1960). ''The Geographical Fragments of Hipparchus. Edited with an Introduction and Commentary''. London: Athlone Press. Cited in: J. L. Berggren, Alexander Jones (2000)]
Ptolemy's Geography: An Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters
Princeton: Princeton University Press. {{ISBN, 9780691010427.
[Donald Engels (1985)]
The Length of Eratosthenes' Stade
''American Journal of Philology'' 106 (3): 298–311. {{doi, 10.2307/295030 {{subscription required.
[Edward Gulbekian (1987)]
The Origin and Value of the Stadion Unit used by Eratosthenes in the Third Century BC
''Archive for History of Exact Sciences'' 37 (4): 359–363. {{doi, 10.1007/BF00417008. {{subscription required.
[J. L. Berggren, Alexander Jones (2000)]
Ptolemy's Geography: An Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters
Princeton: Princeton University Press. {{ISBN, 9780691010427.
Obsolete units of measurement
Ancient Greek units of measurement
Units of length
Units of measurement in surveying